Speaking Program: Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

Laura served as a federal- and state-licensed wildlife rehabilitator for over a decade, and became fascinated with how wild birds deal with temporary captivity. Pileated Woodpeckers use their tongues to probe crevices—the young one Laura raised spent a lot of time probing her ear with his tongue. Soras hugged the edges of her living room, hiding between draperies or furniture and the wall and never coming out into the open. Warblers had to be kept in the dark during migration—if someone turned a light on in a room with warblers, they’d immediately take off, flying directly toward it, providing some insight into their high mortality at lighted buildings during nocturnal migration. Laura has hilarious, heartbreaking, and uplifting stories about these encounters.